New plans for a childcare centre in Warrnambool unveiled for city's north

The city's growing population has put pressure on the sector right across the region with the the huge shortage in childcare places leaving families facing a six to 12-month wait.

Numerous attempts at turning the site into apartments or housing have been dumped in favour of splitting the land, on the corner of Aberline Road, in half to cater for some affordable housing and the childcare centre.

But stage one of the project would see the corner section of the site transformed into a child care and early learning facility with 29 off-street car parks and eight on-street parks.

Aberline Road would also be widened as part of the project to cater for the extra car parks.

The remaining 4694 square metres would be used for a medium-density housing estate with the aim of address the housing crisis with affordable housing options.

Development plans have been submitted to the city council, which say the residential component of the project provided an opportunity to deliver "affordable community housing".

BNAA Investments, the new owner of the land, is behind the development plan. It says the demand for social and education services was likely to increase even more as the population continues to grow.

At the time the development plan was submitted to council, four-out-of-five child carecentres and two or three early learning centres in North East Warrnambool had no vacancies, it says.

A shortage of childcare places in the south-west has forced some desperate parents to stay at home rather than return to work with some on waiting lists up to 40 people long.

A plan to turn Dales Road into a 74-apartment complex and medical centre was knocked back in December 2019. Original plans were for 99 apartments, but that had been scaled back.

Councillors were scathing of the proposal when they unanimously rejected it saying it was more like a hotel complex than a residential development and would set an alarming precedent for the city.

The then owner of the land went back to the drawing board after revealing the hold ups put in jeopardy plans to bring affordable accommodation to Warrnambool.

In September last year, revised plans for a 36-lot development were unanimously backed by councillors who said it would help address the city's housing crisis which was experiencing growth on steroids.

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